Eye on the pies

Annabelle Sikes

News Editor

When everything else in life failed, pie was Will Lenhart’s constant.

Throughout the challenges in his life, the art of baking has helped him overcome even the toughest of obstacles.

Now, the 39-year-old Horizon West resident is using pie to not only shape a new chapter in his life, but to encourage others to reach for their dreams as well.

PIE PURSUIT

Lenhart’s journey began in the humble town of York, Pennsylvania.

Although baking always has been in his life — his uncle owned a bakery when he was growing up, and he baked with his grandparents — the first time he got into making pies was with the mother of one of his high school friends, Cathy Sharp.

“In high school, it was like any other typical experience as a gay adolescent trying to find their way in the world,” he said. “She was a friendly face down the street who took me under her wing. She taught me that you can have pie fundraisers and make money. She was doing a pie fundraiser, and I had the pleasure of being there. I helped her, and I watched her make these pies, and it was pretty awesome.”

At 16, Lenhart spent his time bussing tables and working in restaurants while attending school. Whenever he needed money, he started to turn to pies.

After high school, Lenhart pursued culinary school. He obtained his associate’s degree in culinary arts and started his bachelor’s degree, but halfway through his first semester, he decided it was not for him.

For a while, Lenhart worked managing and opening Irish pubs in Pennsylvania. But one night in 2009, he had a premonition to move to Ireland.

He decided to have a major pie sale to finance the journey, and three weeks later, he was on a one-way flight to the new country.

By 2011, Lenhart returned to his hometown, and he was back to waiting tables in local restaurants.

When the opportunity arose to open his own pie shop in York Central Market House, one of the oldest farmers markets, in April 2011, he coined his new stand The Pie Shop.

THE FLORIDA PLAN

The same year the first pie shop opened, Lenhart met his husband, Nicholas Chapman.

The couple came to Central Florida for the first time in 2011 for a trip to Walt Disney World. They instantly fell in love with the parks and the area.

The two began to frequently make the trip down to Disney as consistently as every four to eight weeks for a number of years.

After selling the pie shop and considering a move to California, the couple decided to stay in Pennsylvania and focus on building a family instead.

The couple welcomed their son, McKinley Chapman, in August 2018.

Although Lenhart was working for a technology company at the time, he decided to become a stay-at-home dad in October 2019.

SIGNATURE BAKEHOUSE

WEBSITE: signaturebakehouse.com

PHONE: (310) 435-7922

LOCATION: 15718 Signature

Drive, Winter Garden; or visit the Windermere Farmers Market on Friday mornings

“It didn’t make sense to spend all this time and energy to create our son, to only then put him in a daycare facility and just have somebody else have the moments that we wanted to share with him,” he said.

That’s when the family came up with what they called “The Florida Plan,” named after Disney’s Florida plan.

“There were some major concerns,” Lenhart said. “We wondered what would happen if we couldn’t get jobs. We were moving right in the middle of the pandemic. We had no social network here. … Florida is Florida, and we are gay, and we have a son, and some people don’t agree with that. We were really concerned about how our family was going to be approached here in this small community …But my husband and I have built a solid foundation, and it’s pretty amazing. It worked. Nick and I came from nothing, and everything we have is because of work and determination. We want better than what we were given.”

After moving to Orlando in 2020, the family found their new home in the Independence community.

“This is the first time my husband and I have lived in this weird type of community,” Lenhart said. “I say weird, but what I mean is the uncommon feeling of knowing your neighbors and having them be so close. There’s more of a sense of community here, and we’ve developed friendly faces, acquaintances and friends. We love our child to be able to have that. Independence is so cultured and diverse in the fact that we have all social and economic climates here that he can learn from.”

About a year ago, Lenhart decided he wanted to start selling pies and built Signature Bakehouse out of his home from scratch.

Although life got busy and the